Before the Ball Drops

December 30, 2014

New Year’s Eve is a time to reflect on the past and ponder your future, but many of us spend more time planning how we will be celebrating on the last night of the year instead of planning ahead on how to achieve our New Year’s resolutions.One of the most common resolutions is to improve financial well-being, either by saving more or paying down debt.  So before you head out tomorrow night, reflect on your financial past by taking the time to calculate your net worth so you know where you stand as we head into 2015. Continue reading “Before the Ball Drops”

Last Minute Moves to Save on Taxes for 2014

December 22, 2014

I have never been a big fan of shopping during the busy holiday season, where we are all encouraged to buy, buy, buy no matter where we turn. In fact, I personally prefer to do my shopping in the convenience of my home office and avoid the consumer-driven hustle and bustle as well as the traffic. Click, click, done! Continue reading “Last Minute Moves to Save on Taxes for 2014”

3 Hidden Pitfalls Coming to a 401(k) Statement Near You

December 18, 2014

When you see your 401(k) balance or even a projection of your future balance when you retire, do you really know what that number means for your retirement? If you’re like most people, you probably don’t. A $200k balance may look like the most amount of money you’ve ever had so you can easily think it will be more than sufficient even if it turns out to be nowhere near enough to generate the income you’ll need to retire comfortably. Continue reading “3 Hidden Pitfalls Coming to a 401(k) Statement Near You”

Retirement Planning, Dougie Style!

December 10, 2014

One thing I love about my colleague and friend, Doug Spencer, is his ability to make the complicated simple. Take retirement planning for example. Some people approach retirement planning as though it involves complicated math, an ability to predict the future, and an ounce of luck. Continue reading “Retirement Planning, Dougie Style!”

How the IRS Can Help You Save More For Retirement in 2015

November 17, 2014

It has often been said that the only constant in life is change. As a parent, I find that change is both exciting and scary as heck because you never know what lies around the corner. This statement about anticipating change definitely remains true when the IRS is concerned. Continue reading “How the IRS Can Help You Save More For Retirement in 2015”

Be Long Term Careful

November 14, 2014

One of the questions I get asked frequently by people who are on track to retire is if they should buy long term care insurance (if they don’t already own it) or if they should cancel it (if they already own it).Lately, that has been a very difficult question to answer.  Companies that offer long term care insurance are raising premiums, sometimes very substantially, and there are no guarantees that they won’t go even higher in the future.  So if you are considering purchasing a LTC policy or cancelling your existing LTC policy, what are some things that you should factor into your decision? Continue reading “Be Long Term Careful”

Shave Your Budget, Not Your Moustache

November 12, 2014

A recent Wells Fargo study found that 31% of survey respondents do not think they will have enough money to “survive” on in retirement, yet more than half say they plan to save later for retirement in order to “make up for not saving enough now.” If we have learned anything from Aesop’s fable regarding the ant and the grasshopper, it’s that waiting until later is NOT a good strategy. This is especially true when it comes to saving for retirement. Continue reading “Shave Your Budget, Not Your Moustache”

Living Longer May Not Be All Good News For Women

November 05, 2014

According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, Americans are living longer—o.1 years longer to be exact—as the national life expectancy has reached a new record high of 78.8 years. Women, with an average life expectancy of 81.2 years, live on average 4.8 years longer than men, at 76.4 years. While some may see this purely as a blessing, it does present a financial challenge for today’s women. Namely, women may need to save more for retirement than men in order to account for these additional years. Here are five things women can do to help address this added financial challenge: Continue reading “Living Longer May Not Be All Good News For Women”

Are You Afraid of Your Student Loan Debt?

October 30, 2014

What’s really scaring you this Halloween? If you have student loans, getting that bill might rank pretty high on the list. After all, no one likes owing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars  that will seemingly take forever to pay off. That doesn’t mean paying off your student loans should be your only or even top financial priority though. Here are some other goals that you might want to prioritize first. Continue reading “Are You Afraid of Your Student Loan Debt?”

Why Wait Until Next Year to Plan Your Future?

October 27, 2014

It seems like every fall I try to take some time to enjoy a few minutes of solitude and reflect on the experiences of the current year. This is also a time where I usually acknowledge that the to-do list that I created earlier in the year still reveals some unfinished business. As a financial planner, I’ll admit that this includes some things on my family’s financial planning checklist that still need some attention. Continue reading “Why Wait Until Next Year to Plan Your Future?”

Social Security Myth #5: You Only Receive A Spousal Benefit If You Are Married When You Retire

October 22, 2014

In my last blog post, I addressed the myth that Social Security benefits are based on an accumulation of assets and that collecting a spousal benefit would reduce the amount a spouse would otherwise be eligible to receive. This brings up another myth that is circulating out there that suggests that one has to be married in order to collect a spousal benefit. That is not the case. Continue reading “Social Security Myth #5: You Only Receive A Spousal Benefit If You Are Married When You Retire”

Can The IRS Help You Save For Retirement?

October 20, 2014

Saving for retirement is a must these days and retirement confidence in general is pretty low. Our recent retirement preparedness study revealed that only about 20% of employees feel they’re on track to reach their desired income in retirement. In order to bridge this gap, it’s no secret many of us need to save more. Continue reading “Can The IRS Help You Save For Retirement?”

Social Security Myth #4: Collecting a Spousal Benefit Reduces the Amount Your Spouse Will Receive

October 15, 2014

One of the most valuable aspects of the Social Security formula is the accrual of spousal benefits for couples that have been married for at least one year at the time they file for benefits. However, some think of these benefits as a pool of money that somehow is split between the two of them. For this reason, they sometimes fall under the misconception that if one of them starts to collect a spousal benefit, the other’s benefit will be reduced. Continue reading “Social Security Myth #4: Collecting a Spousal Benefit Reduces the Amount Your Spouse Will Receive”

How to Manage Student Loan Debt in Retirement

October 14, 2014

You’ve worked hard both in the professional world and at home raising your family and retirement is just around the corner. Now it is your turn to relax – somewhat — and do the things you love and want to do. But what if you haven’t finished paying off your student loan debt? Continue reading “How to Manage Student Loan Debt in Retirement”

Social Security Myth #3: You Will Lose Benefits If You Collect While You Are Working

October 08, 2014

In my previous two blog posts, I’ve addressed the myths of Social Security insolvency and calculating Social Security using final average earnings. Next up is a myth concerning the receipt of benefits while employed. Most of us know that the earliest we can collect a Social Security retirement benefit is age 62, but that doesn’t mean most of us plan to stop working by then. For this reason, I am often asked about the implications of collecting a Social Security benefit while working. Continue reading “Social Security Myth #3: You Will Lose Benefits If You Collect While You Are Working”

Five Myths About Social Security: Myth #2 – Social Security Is Based on Your Last Five Years of Earnings

October 01, 2014

Last week, I addressed the first myth about Social Security benefits, namely that they won’t be there by the time you’re eligible to receive them. For this week’s post, I’d like to address another common myth related to how benefits are calculated: Benefits are based on your last five years of earnings. Continue reading “Five Myths About Social Security: Myth #2 – Social Security Is Based on Your Last Five Years of Earnings”

Things You Need to Know About Social Security: Will It Be There?

September 24, 2014

When I facilitate a workshop or webcast on retirement planning, I like to poll my audience to see which areas of retirement planning they would prefer to spend more time talking about. The audience generally ranks saving and investing for retirement as their top two choices but depending on who is in the audience, Social Security may rank as third. Even when it doesn’t, I find it amusing that a government benefit that some are skeptical will even be there by the time they retire ends up being the topic that generates the most questions. I guess it’s because it’s a source of retirement income that many are familiar with yet so few truly understand. Continue reading “Things You Need to Know About Social Security: Will It Be There?”

The Three Most Useless Things a Financial Columnist Tells You

September 11, 2014

I often like to question much of the conventional wisdom of the financial services industry so I was intrigued when I saw this article titled “The four most useless things financial advisors tell you” by Howard Gold. Instead, I found myself questioning most of the conclusions in the article itself as pretty useless (with one exception). Let’s take a look at each of these “four most useless things:” Continue reading “The Three Most Useless Things a Financial Columnist Tells You”

Retirement: You Might Need to Visualize It to Realize It

August 25, 2014

As a financial planner, I feel that it is important to encourage people to realistically think about what their retirement will look like. No matter how young or old, now is always a good time to plan for the future. It is not uncommon for some of these popular questions to come up during a typical conversation: Continue reading “Retirement: You Might Need to Visualize It to Realize It”

Should You Buy Life Insurance as an Investment?

August 21, 2014

In response to this article we published on Forbes, we received this question on our Facebook page:

I recently read your article “Should You Use Life Insurance as an Investment?” on Forbes. I wanted to know how this article would apply to me. I just graduated and started my first job that pays pretty well. I don’t have any dependents so I didn’t think about life insurance until I meet with a financial advisor. He said starting insurance young is a better investment where I could keep safe dollars and be more risky in other parts. Would I be better off buying insurance now and benefiting from compound interest or use that money in other investments? Thanks! Continue reading “Should You Buy Life Insurance as an Investment?”